The main event in Horvac’s life happened in year nine of Dis. For all that time, the players had been colonizing Latteria from the west, ever pushing further and further east. The Travelers managed to reach the Thunder Strait first, emerging onto it north of the Lakharian Desert, where the Nameless Mountains turned into the Flowering Hills. There was only one pass there, through a narrow gorge controlled by hill spirits. Flying mounts hadn’t been added yet. In fierce competition with Modus and the Azure Dragons, Horvac was the first to farm the required reputation level with the spirits and went out into the Thunder Strait.
They made a stop in a narrow valley at the foot of the mountains. Leaving his clanmates to make a camp so as to found a clan fort there later, Horvac went to wander along the shoreline solo. He took off his boots and strolled along the wet sand, breathing in the sea air. The sands tickled his feet as they settled after fleeing waves, and shards of shells and stones jabbed underfoot. The water was cold, the sky over his head leaden, but at that moment Horvac enjoyed that place more than any tropical resort.
Peacefully stepping over scurrying low-level crabs, he walked to the end of the narrow bay and saw the broken tip of a mast jutting out of the water. Anticipating exciting discoveries in the holds of a sunken ship, he sped his pace. With all his thoughts he was there, under the water, so he only noticed the body on the shore when he tripped over it.
The brown-skinned corpse belonged not to a man, not to an elf, not to a dwarf or a gnome. It was none of the known races.
Eytrigg Bardukk, Ore, Level gi Sailor
Captain of the schooner Tistanna.
The ore was dying, but still breathed—his health bar was at two percent. Horvac hurriedly pulled out three Large Healing Potions and poured them one after another into the captain’s half-open, sand-filled mouth. He came round slowly, doubled over in the sand and coughing up seawater, seaweed and sand. After a while, the coughing subsided and the ore raised his head. For some time, his clouded eyes showed nothing but confusion. Thinking of something, he jumped up and shouted, baring crooked sharp fangs: “Pafund! Grombolar!”
It was later that Horvac learned that the common tongue that all the races of the Commonwealth spoke was rooted in High Elvish. The pointy-eared inhabitants of Latteria had distant relatives on Shad’Erung, thanks to which the dark races got their own common, Imperial tongue, a guttural mix of dark-elvish, orcish and trollish dialects. In the end, it was similar enough to the common tongue of the Commonwealth for Horvac to communicate with Eytrigg.
“I don’t know what you said, but I’m happy to help,” Horvac answered. “Do you understand me?”
“Zug-zug,” Eytrigg answered. He pointed a finger at Horvac and energetically said: “Yours!” Then jabbed a thumb at himself. “Mine!” Then touched two fingers to his forehead, clenched his fist. “Life!”
Horvac figured the ore was thanking him for saving his life. The next second, he realized he was wrong; Eytrigg Bardukk growled “Lok’Tar ogar!” and flew at him with fists swinging.
The fight was one-sided. Horvac was higher in level, clad in epic and legendary gear and had no qualms about drawing a weapon. Eytrigg was fighting bare-knuckle and with no armor to speak of. After the short scuffle, the ore admitted defeat, falling to one knee, bowing his head and raising his hands.
A couple of minutes later, both had forgotten their disagreement and sat in the sand together, smoking Horvac’s pipe and talking. From Eytrigg’s broken speech, Horvac learned that the sunken ship belonged to the Empire of Shak, which occupied the neighboring continent of Shad’Erung. Emissaries of his Imperial Majesty Kragosh were aboard the ship, which was headed for Darant. They’d almost reached the shores of Latteria when a giant kraken attacked the schooner. Nobody survived but the captain, who managed to swim to shore.
The game interface helped Horvac to communicate. Eytrigg gave him a real legendary quest chain. The first quest was to help the captain find the corpses of the dead sailors and send their spirits to their final resting place.
Nearly a year later, Horvac reached the final quest in the chain, earning a personal audience with Emperor Kragosh himself. At the end of that chat, Horvac was invited to undergo the ritual of Om’Riggor. After successfully surviving a range of challenges, Horvac became the first ore player in Disgardium, and with the new class of Chieftain.
In the same stroke, he became a billionaire. But that’s another tale of space yachts, beautiful models and a permanent place in the society pages, usually in the Scandals section.
*
The defensive domes covering Horvac’s tent crisscrossed and overlapped each other like cabbage leaves, cutting off all sound and even sunlight.
From the outside, it looked as if five people would fit in the tent, and even then it would crowded. In fact, the thirty-three preventers sat inside; the leaders, lieutenants and top strategists of eleven clans. This time the Travelers HQ was chosen as a meeting place to try and confuse the Threat. In reality, the position of Horvac’s clan was almost equal to that of Modus, and it was hard to say which clan was stronger.
Both Otto Hinterleaf and Horvac Onegut were long in the tooth. They’d seen a lot and they valued stability above all. And although Otto had always had a meticulous and careful nature, those traits came to Horvac only later in life.
Both clans fought each other fiercely in the old days, and in recent years had decided not to fight anymore. It made more sense economically, and the younger and bolder clans were constantly nipping at their heels. In open warfare between two top
